Dr. Brent Krueger is a professor of chemistry and Schaap Research Fellow and has been working at Hope since 2001.

He teaches courses in a variety of areas including physical chemistry, computational modeling/programming and introductory chemistry. He was also one of the developers of, and frequently teaches in the Day1: Watershed program. Dr. Krueger has engaged in a variety of research projects during his time at Hope ranging from physics and chemistry to biology. Currently he and his students are involved with several projects related to water quality ranging from study of our local Lake Macatawa to drinking water from at-risk communities around the world. He is also actively involved with LibreTexts and with the Midwest Undergraduate Computational Chemistry Consortium (MU3C).

See Dr. Krueger’s current research in more detail 

AREAS OF INTEREST

• Relationships between microbial populations and chemical and physical parameters in recreational water
• Helping NGOs better serve at-risk communities through improved drinking water
• Biophysical studies using laser spectroscopy and computational modeling
• Predicting fluorescent probe motions using molecular dynamics calculations
• Development of mixed MD-QM methods for comparing simulation with experiment

EDUCATION

• NIH Postdoc, molecular dynamics and pharmaceutical chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, 1999–2001
• Postdoc, energy transfer in photosynthesis, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, 1999
• Ph.D., physical chemistry, University of Chicago, 1999
• B.S., physics and chemistry, Truman State University, 1993

Selected GRANTS

• “SARS-CoV-2 Monitoring of Wastewater for 13 Counties in Southwest Michigan,”  Michigan Department of Health and Human Services ($7,543,073), 2021–2023
• “Implementation of Digital Droplet PCR Technology for SARS-CoV-2 Testing in Wastewater in Ottawa and Allegan Counties,” Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy grant ($685,919), 2020
• “Acquisition of a High Performance Computing Cluster for Undergraduate Chemistry Research and Teaching by the Midwest Undergraduate Computational Chemistry Consortium (MU3C),” National Science Foundation grant ($400,400), 2019–2022
• “Expanding the LibreTexts Project into the Next-Generation Hub for Construction, Dissemination, and Usage of Open Educational Resource Textbooks,” Department of Education Grant ($161,691), 2018-2021 (part of a multi-institution collaborative grant led by Delmar Larsen, totaling $4,949,843)
• “Quantifying Fluorescent Probe Dynamics in FRET Experiments by Combining Single-Molecule and Bulk Spectroscopies with Molecular Dynamics and Quantum Mechanics Simulations,” National Science Foundation grant ($385,000), 2011–2015

Selected Publications

• “Molecular Dynamics Force Field Parameters to Describe EGFP and Some of Its Analogs,” Journal of Physical Chemistry B 127, 2023 (with 3 Hope undergraduate co-authors)
• “Improvements in diarrheal disease prevalence with point-of-use water filter implementation in the informal settlement of Kibera, Kenya,” Archives of Clinical and Biomedical Research 7, 2023 (with 9 Hope undergaduate co-authors)
• “Diarrhea Prevalence in a Randomized, Controlled Prospective Trial of Point-of-use Water Filters in Homes and Schools in the Dominican Republic,” Tropical Medicine and Health 49, 2021 (with 16 Hope undergaduate co-authors)
• “Using Molecular Dynamics and Quantum Mechanics Calculations to Model Fluorescence Observables,” Journal of Physical Chemistry A 115, 2011 (with 3 Hope undergaduate co-authors)
• “A Thermodynamic Exploration of Eosin-Lysozyme Binding: A Physical Chemistry and Biochemistry Laboratory Experiment,” Journal of Chemical Education 87, 2010 (with 2 Hope undergaduate co-authors)
• “Fretting about FRET: Failure of the Ideal Dipole Approximation,” Biophysical Journal 96, 2009 (with 1 Hope undergaduate co-author)
• “Fretting about FRET: Correlation between κ and R,” Biophysical Journal 92, 2007 (with 3 Hope undergaduate co-authors)
• “Hybrid Molecular Dynamics-Quantum Mechanics Simulations of Condensed Phase Spectral Properties: Evaluation of Simulation Parameters,” Journal of Computational Chemistry 28, 2007 (with 2 Hope undergaduate co-authors)

View a complete list of Dr. Krueger’s publications and co-authors

Selected Institutional Service

• Co-director, Global Water Research Institute, 2022–present
• Hope Forward Selection Committee, 2021–present
• Director, Computational Science and Modeling Laboratory, 2005–present
• Faculty Compensation Task Force, 2018–2020
• Presidential Transition Committee, 2018–2019
• Department of Chemistry Executive Committee, 2017–2019
• Department of Chemistry Course Scheduler, 2014–2018
• Board of Trustees Faculty Representative, 2014–2018
• Academic Affairs Board, 2010–2012 (Chair 2011–2012)

Outside the College

Dr. Krueger, his wife, and their two kids especially enjoy cooking and eating good food. They love travel, though that doesn’t happen as often as they’d like, and they are proud to be an active part of the Grace Episcopal Church community.